A Glorious Day

[Beer-lord]

Today, RedBEERd and I are boiling crawfish for a friends party. Now that this is the first spring back from their 2 year trip to Cali, they've resurrected it again. It's mostly their work mates (about 25) that they invite but Chuck and I boil the crawdads, I'm bringing a keg of Drop Kick Nate and Bob's your uncle!
Later this afternoon our little Wednesday night 'band night' group will play about 10 songs to make sure everyone leaves quickly. It's always a fun time but with the temp pushing 90 today, water will be in high need so we have some session beers to keep us going in between. Last week was really spring like here but since I was at my sons graduation, that wasn't possible. Still, clear skies, beer, crawfish, music, beer, water, beer, people......................I'm not good at math but you can solve that problem, right?

[MrBandGuy]

Sounds like a good time! We're gloomy and rainy here today. I've got tickets to a local music fest later, seeing Asleep at the Wheel and Donna the Buffalo. Also, hopefully I'll find out the results from their homebrew contest if I can find the score sheet guy.

Have a good time!

[Beer-lord]

Drop Kick Nate is perfect with crawfish.

[BlackDuck]

Wow...that pot full of goodies looks so good.

[Beer-lord]

Time to eat!

[Inkleg]

It's great that your friends are back and that the beer and food is great also.

[Inkleg]

Just showed that last picture to Jody. She is NOT HAPPY that we are not there with you.

[BigPapaG]

Care to share Paul?

I see mud bugs, bay leaf, garlic, onions oranges and lemons, corn... Of course old bay I'm sure...

Some salt and pepper maybe?

How long do you boil!

[Kealia]

Goddamit! I need to get my @$$ to NOLA and hang with y'all.

[FedoraDave]

Wow. Ain't that a sight! Good job, guys. Have a great weekend.

[Beer-lord]

We killed the Nate in an hour or so.
Papa, I'll post our recipe tomorrow but it's simple. We don't use Old Bay here but use bay leaves.
It's all gone now and some are drinking crappy beer.
I'm switching to water again.

[ScrewyBrewer]

That food looks delicious, just perfect with beer too! I'm honestly craving spicy seafood right now sounds like you had a perfect day.

[FedoraDave]

Damn.

I mean ...

Day-UMM!

You're doing it right, guys. Doing. It. Right.

[Beer-lord]

OK, here's the recipe we use though there are so many little nuances, like beer, that each do for their recipe.
For 35-40 lbs of crawfish use:
1-4lb box of Cajunland boil mix
6 large onions cut in half or quartered
6 head of garlic cut in half
Half a stalk of celery cut in 3-4" pieces (many use celery seasoning which is also very nice)
A ton of fresh bay leaves broken up (mother in law has a tree so I grab lots and I think you can't use too much)
6 large lemons cut in half and the juice squeezed into the liquid (this batch I also added 3 large oranges cut and squeezed)
A few dashes of Worcestershire sauce and some Tabasco if you want it spicier
1/2 box of salt (this is where you have to be careful because the 4 lb mix has lots of salt already and much depends on your boiler and it's size)

Bring all to a boil and let it boil for 2-3 minutes. Add the washed off crawfish (they come pretty dirty so washing them in the bag 3-4 times is a good ideas).
If using small potatoes, add them now. If using large, add them as soon as you start the boil. Stir and cover and let come to a boil
When the boil starts, boil for 3 minutes, stir, add the corn (we like frozen better) and turn off and let sit for at least 30 minutes. Start tasting at 15 minutes and see just how much another 10-15 minutes makes in flavor. 45 minutes should be more than enough time in the first batch. The 2nd batch will be seasoned much faster.

Since we usually use the same water for a second batch, you pretty much do the same thing which will result is even tastier crawfish as well as spicier. But, after 2 boils, the water is too 'dirty' to use a 3rd time.
Options: many people add mushrooms, artichokes, hot dogs, sausage or whatever they want. I find some of that takes away from the crawfish and would suggest saving the 'dirty' water for those additions.
Finally, we have lots of options here for boil mix. Even our local seafood suppliers have their own mix you can buy. For me, Cajunland is the best. Zatarain's (many can get their dry mixes) is good, but sometimes too spicey and salty and you can't even taste the crawfish meat with all the heat.

I wonder if I missed anything. Oh yeah, lots of beer. Pales go best as well as lagers but some even enjoy porters with their crawfish.

[Kealia]

Damn, I think I want to do this again this year.

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